


Does This Mean I’m Not Smart Anymore?

by SierraWinchester



Series: JatP, my own personal universe [7]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Fluff, I couldn’t help myself, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 18:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30093603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SierraWinchester/pseuds/SierraWinchester
Summary: Julie is worried about getting her wisdom teeth out...But the boys find a creative way to cheer her up!
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters
Series: JatP, my own personal universe [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2145687
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43





	Does This Mean I’m Not Smart Anymore?

CROOKED TEETH

“No, I don’t want to.” Julie mumbled, face buried into the couch so deep her words were barely intelligible. 

“I don’t think it’s an option, Jules.” Luke replied calmly, smiling slightly. She was cute when she whined. 

“Come on, Julie, your mouth has been killing you for weeks. Once they’re out it’ll be fine!” Alex argued, trying to soothe some of her worry. 

“And you get to eat all the pudding you want!” Reggie added with a grin, ever the optimist. 

Julie whined again, turning her face to look at them all, face scrunched up in anger. “It’s unfair! You guys don’t have to get your wisdom teeth out.”

“I’d say I’m thankful to be dead, but I already got mine removed.” Alex replied calmly. And behind him Reggie seconded the statement. Luke smiled down at her, nodding, he had as well. 

“Seriously? All of you?” She did seem shocked and she was sitting up now, pillow clenched to her chest. 

“Yup! Winter of ‘93. All of us, Bobby included, got our wisdom teeth out a few weeks from each other.” Reggie explained with a smile. “It was an interesting few weeks.”

Julie smiled at the image in her head of four barely teen boys eating pudding and watching bad cartoons on crappy TVs. “And it wasn’t that bad?”

“Nah!” Luke hopped in, smiling at her widely, “Wasn’t bad at all. The best part was the drugs, though. Felt like I was on cloud nine for half a week.”

Alex scrunched his face up at that, “The painkillers were not nice. They made me groggy and sick to my stomach.” He paused, adding an afterthought, “Though watching you come out of surgery drugged up was probably the highlight of my year.”

Julie was quick to jump on that information, “Wait, did the drugs back then also act like a truth serum? Can’t stop talking?”

“Can’t stop talking? God, Luke wouldn’t stop _singing!_ ” Alex laughed, but Reggie cut him off. 

“Hey, guys, do you think the video’s still here?”

“Video?” Julie asked but Luke cut her off. “Oh for sure. Hold on.” With a flash he was gone and she could hear him rustling up in the loft. But he was back in a moment’s notice with a dusty VHS in hand. 

“No way!” Reggie crowed and he grabbed it quickly, turning his massive puppy eyes on Julie, “Can we watch it, please? Please, please, please?”

Quickly, she placated the begging, “We can watch it. I just need to see if we have a tape player.”

Thankfully, her dad had one as he transferred VHS tapes to digital for couples who wanted to renew their wedding vows and paid him to photograph. It took some time, but once it was hooked up, Luke did the honors of pushing the tape in. 

It was rewound, thankfully, and the boys all snuggled up together with Julie to watch. The opening frame was a horribly blurry shot of a front door, the person holding the camera’s hands shaking too bad to get a nice angle. After a minute, and a lot of hushed arguing, the camera was passed into steady hands. 

The door opened and in stumbled Luke, barely thirteen with the cheeks of a chipmunk. A younger Emily ushered him inside, smiling tiredly like only a mother could. 

“Luke!” Reggie’s pre-puberty voice cracked and he launched himself at his friend. 

Luke laughed and lazily grabbed at Reggie, a bit of drool slipping off his chin. “Wedge!” 

Reggie laughed and helped pull him to the couch even though he was shorter by quite a bit. Once Luke was comfy, he smiled. “How do you feel?”

“Wike a miwwon bucks!” He blabbered around the gauze, words hard to make out, but he certainly looked happy. 

“Ready to go back to rehearsal so soon, Patterson?” Alex’s voice came from behind the camera, all snarky fondness. 

“The band!” Luke’s eyes widened and then he settled into a grin. “I can sing!” And with that he belted out a horribly off tune version of the opening lines to Now or Never, half the words jumbled together and the others so off key Julie couldn’t help but wince. 

Laughter bubbled through the tape, distorted slightly with age, but then Emily was bending in front of the camera. “Okay. Time to let Luke get his rest. You guys can play tomorrow.”

The screen cut to black for a moment and Julie was going to speak, assuming it was the end. But the next clip was a bed covered in Star Wars sheets and a red-faced and swollen Reggie staring down the camera lens. 

“Come on, Reg, say it again!” Luke’s voice whined from the background, still a few notches too high. 

Reggie managed a grumpy pout, arms crossed over his chest. Shaking his head, he looked away from his friends. 

“If you say it, I’ll get you pudding!” Luke taunted playfully and Julie could hear the grin in his voice. 

Reggie looked interested, eyes flickering to the brunet still off camera. It was only when Alex’s voice spoke from behind the camera again that he seemed to give in. “I’ll make Luke play country music for the next hour and he’ll get you pudding.”

Reggie caved and he grumbled out the words, garbled from the Novocain still lingering in his gums, “I said: The doctor didn’t let me keep my teeth.”

The next round of laughter was interrupted by Camera-Luke crying out, “I can’t believe you asked!”

When the next screen of blackness came up, Julie waited, expecting it now. This jump was worse and the camera was tilted up, only catching a half frame as the rest was hidden by a blanket. Luke and Reggie dragging Alex into the room, both boys at least a head shorter than their drummer, trying to keep a hold of him. 

“He’s slipping!” Reggie called out in warning. 

Luke could be seen tightening his grip and forcing Alex on to the bed, making direct eye contact with him. “Bro, you’re fine! Just breathe!”

Alex let out a pitiful whine, eyes still pouring tears and fingers gripping his friend’s shirt weakly. “Luke, I can't!”

“‘Lex, man, you’re fine—“ 

Cut off by Alex again, Luke sighed. “Luke, they stole my wisdom! I’m gonna fail high school!” He whined out, all but sobbing into his friend’s chest now. 

Luke sighed and wrapped his arms around Alex, glancing at Reggie for help, but the bassist only shrugged. “Maybe we’ll find you some new wisdom teeth, Alex! You can have Bobby’s” 

“Bobby gets his out next week!” Alex all but screamed and both boys winced. It was at this point that current-Alex got up and raced to shut off the tape. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Luke argued and flashed over, wrestling the remote from Alex. It was a quick battle, one that ended with both boys upside down, shirts askew, but the tv still going. But it wasn’t Alex on screen. 

Julie hadn’t seen many photos of Trevor as a kid—as Bobby—just the one from the Sunset Curve album, but she’d recognize him anywhere. Even with a mouthful of gauze and eyes full of murder. 

“Touch me again and you’re dead.” He spoke through the stuffing, eyes flicking to someone off screen. 

“We just wanted to give you an ice pack, Bobbers!” Reggie argued, stepping into frame. He was in brand new Power Rangers pajamas, a bag of frozen peas in his hand. 

“Alex said he wants to steal my teeth.” 

Alex whined off to the right, “I said that a week ago! I was high on drugs!”

“Don’t do drugs!” Luke stage whispered with a smirk. 

“No..no… do drugs.” Bobby argued, head swiveling to Luke. “I can’t feel my face.”

All three boys laughed and Reggie stepped up again, peas held out tentatively. “Peas will help.” 

And the video cut off, either long ago corrupted or just ending abruptly, Julie wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter. She glanced between her boys, her band, some worry settling in her chest. 

It was quickly dispelled by Luke’s laugh, “Oh, god, I forgot. Bobby cut the rest of that tape because the next hour he was just crying about how small peas were!”

“It took him two days to get over it, he was so high.” Alex added with a grin.

“That was really nice guys… It was fun, seeing you all like that, back then.” Julie smiled at each of them. 

“See, not so scary!” Reggie added with a lopsided grin. 

“No, not so scary.” Julie agreed, because with her boys to take care of her, it wouldn’t be. And she knew they’d take care of her; and probably videotape tape her embarrassing moments once Carlos showed them how to use her phone camera. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. (And if she asked the doctor to keep her teeth solely for the fact that Reggie could see them? Well, that was her own business.)


End file.
